MIM welcomes hike in budget for minorities' welfare

Hyderabad : MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi has welcomed the State Budget for 2018-19 presented by Finance Minister Eatala Rajender in the State Legislature today which has a record projected expenditure of Rs 1,74,454 crores, He also complimented the Finance Minister for earmarking an outlay of Rs 2,000 crores for minorities welfare in the 2018-19 budget, compared to Rs 1,250 crores allocated in the current year 2017-18.

"This represents a substantial increase of 60% over the current year’s allocation. The hike in minorities' welfare outlay is the result of keen interest evinced by the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ever since the formation of Telangana State in 2014. Thus, the allocation for minorities welfare has almost doubled from Rs 1,030 crores in the 2014-15 budget to Rs 2,000 crores now," said Akbaruddin Owaisi.

The MIM leader said that the Telangana State has performed creditably well in achieving total expenditure of Rs. 1,33,823 crores in the financial year 2016-17 despite the adverse impact of demonetisation on State’s revenues for five months. In the current financial year 2017-18, as against the budget estimate of Rs 1,49,646 crores, the revised estimate is Rs. 1,42,506 crores, which is quite noteworthy, considering the shortfall in revenues on account of introduction of the GST from July 1, 2017.

The state’s own revenues are expected to contribute Rs 73,752 crores and the central transfers, including grants-in-aid, are estimated to be only Rs 29,042 crores. The State is projected to achieve revenue surplus of Rs 5,520 crores and the fiscal deficit of Rs 29,077 crores is expected to be 3.45% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), he said.

"The Finance Minister has earmarked substantial allocations for agriculture and allied sector, irrigation, energy, roads and public transport, civil supplies, panchayat raj and rural development, municipal administration and urban development, education, health care, industries, handlooms and textiles, information technology, tourism, 2-bedroom housing and other flagship programmes such as Mission Kakatiya, Mission Bhagiratha, Haritha Haram, etc., Moreover, substantial allocations have been made for the welfare sector, including Aasara pensions, Kalyan Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak, welfare of SCs, STs, BCs, Minorities, Women, Children and other sections of society as well as employees welfare," he said.

The Finance Minister has assured that out of the 1.1 lakh direct recruitment vacancies identified in the government departments so far, recruitment of 27,588 employees has been completed and the process of filling up of the balance vacancies is being hastened. There has been substantial increase in allocations for all the schemes and programmes being implemented by minorities welfare department in the 2018-19 budget. Apart from an increase in the establishment expenditure to Rs 25.57 crores, there has been a massive hike in allocations for scheme expenditure of minorities welfare department to Rs 1,974.43 crores.

The allocations include Rs 15 crores for training and employment schemes, Rs 90 crores for multi-sectoral development programme, Rs 30 crores for pre-matric scholarships, Rs 100 crores for post-matric scholarships, Rs 248 crores for reimbursement of fees, Rs 100 crores for overseas scholarships, Rs 160 crores for subsidy schemes, Rs 25 crores for T-Prime and T-SEZ, Rs 80 crores for honorarium to Imams and Mouzans, Rs 200 crores for Shaadi Mubarak, Rs 40 crores for Urdu Academy, Rs 66 crores for Dawat-e-Iftar and Christmas feast, and Rs 735 crores for Telangana State Minorities Residential Schools and Hostels, he said.